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Friday, 26 August 2016

Some would say "highs and lows" and no matter where we live we all experience these times in our lives, but I like to call them hills and valleys.....climbing up that hill is sometimes very tough but the journey down the other side is always good. Hearing of the devastating earthquake in Italy makes one again reflect and realise how fortunate we are.........

And 'lows' to some might be 'highs' to another....it is so often relative to who we are and the journey our lives have taken. I can recall back in 1984 when I was feeding our second daughter (in the days where one had to retreat to the public toilet to breastfeed!!), another new Mum was sitting in the corner crying as her newborn had just received her first immunisations. And there was I sitting with a fragile life that could barely breathe just a few weeks after life saving heart surgery at the age of one week! It is all relative and so this past week we have shared some 'lows'. This very same daughter is going through a massive restructure at her workplace where jobs will be lost and futures are uncertain. To hear your adult daughter crying on the phone is heart wrenching and we are glad that we were here for her. Our other daughter is also going through stressful times at work and working extra shifts on scheduled rostered days off and all while trying to be a Mum as well.......so we've helped out where we can including some fun decorating cakes a few days ago.............

On another day we decided to take them to the National Railway Museum and by the smiles you can see it was a good day.........

But we had a few 'hills' ourselvessome partly self inflicted! Try embroidering a piece of work for many hours and then pressing fusible webbing on to it instead of on the back! Then Larry forgot to press 'save' and lost three and a half hours of a report he was typing! Then I printed a stack of work for the tours and found things didn't line up on the back.....so there went another entire night! And a bit of a hiccough when unpacking some books but we won't say too much about that as it is all in hand (we hope!)..........

But Larry and I do try to walk each day - well maybe every second day and in what we call the 'village' of Old Noarlunga just one minute from home. While walking we noticed a couple of very brave lads scaling the cliffs....we cheered when they managed to get back to the bridge!

There are several homes that have our name on them for the wishful lotto win!.......

I also managed to meet the new Decorative Arts Curator at the Art Gallery during the past week.............

Photo Source....if you click on the photo source link you can read all about her. So a quick visit to the Morris room once again and it is wonderful to hear changes are planned..........

It was great to catch up with a friend for lunch even though it hailed and these poor bears got sodden............

Yesterday the task was to find an outfit for the UK book launch and I found the perfect garment......but why does this brand only do small sizes??!!.....very sad to leave it there.......

So with just seven sleeps till we leave I had better get back to some more chores x

Monday, 22 August 2016

Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Where on earth has August gone.......I cannot believe it is the evening of the 16th already??!! So if you haven't had enough of Beatrix Potter to put up with here is a little more! In the coming weeks I will set up a page on this blog so you can see what is in the book.....and yes they have arrived and are in all sorts of spaces that we could find in the carport and inside the house!!........

The website should be ready to go on Monday October 24th and the book will be retailing for AU$29.95. (just need to wait until after the launch in the UK and here in Australia then it will be all systems go!) It is a much bigger book than the May Morris one and for overseas quilters the wait will be a little longer if you would like to save some $$$. I am hoping it will be printed in the US saving you on postage costs so I will let you know as soon as I know. So for now a few more of the projects that you may not have seen........a Mrs Tiggy Winkle iron cover because I just had to have one!

The large reproduction quilt of the 1863 Potter wedding quilt..........

A quick bag making use of a left over quilt block.....and some blocks from two more quilts......"Bubbles" quilt......

and "Serendipity" quilt......

A wool felt padded storage box depicting a very naive version of Hill Top......

and a wool felt nursery ball.......

Hand stitched hexagons.........

A small wall hanging based on a drawing that Beatrix did when she was only 15.......

A cushion inspired by the Tailor of Gloucester story.........

And I just had to make some more pinwheels!.....

So what else has filled these busy August days? We shared a wonderful curry lunch with friends on Sunday each sharing a recipe. I decided to dig in to one of my many cookbooks this time one that the family gave me a few Christmases ago. It is a fabulous book and the Roasted Green Chicken Curry was delicious. There is a recipe online HERE but I did cheat a little and bought a jar of good quality green curry paste and substituted the coconut milk for coconut cream........

I've also just sewn on the buttons to three new shirts that I've made ready to take to the UK, and this time I pre-washed all the fabrics so I expect no more shrinkage....or perhaps it was my lack of exercise that contributed to the previous ones shrinking?!.....

And the fingers have been busy with more secret stitching that will be revealed on our exciting Beatrix Potter and William Morris tours in just over 2 weeks......